HC stays defamation proceedings against CM in video re-tweet case
New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the proceedings filed against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a criminal defamation case, for re-tweeting an allegedly defamatory video, circulated on YouTube last May.
Justice Suresh Kait also sought the response of the complainant, Vikas Sanskrityayan, on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kejriwal’s plea challenging the summons issued to him by a trial court.
Arvind Kejriwal had moved the high court challenging the summons issued by the magistrate as well as the sessions judge, who rejected his revision against the trial court’s order.
Appearing for Kejriwal, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa said that there were 11,114 people who either commented, retweeted or liked Dhruv Rathee’s tweet, on the date of filing the complaint, but the complainant chose to file a defamation complaint only against Kejriwal for vested reasons.
The high court noted the submission and also the fact that even Rathee, who posted the original tweet, was not an accused in the complaint. It directed, “till further orders, there shall be a stay on the proceedings against the petitioner (Kejriwal)” in the criminal defamation case.
Following the proceedings, the court stayed the defamation proceedings till January 30, 2020.
The magisterial court had summoned Kejriwal to appear before it on August 7, after a criminal complaint by Vikas Sankrityayan, the founder of social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’. Sankrityayan had alleged that the AAP leader had re-tweeted the defamatory video.
He had said the video was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, “wherein a number of false and defamatory allegations were made”.
Kejriwal, he said, had re-tweeted the video without checking its authenticity.